This article is from page 102 of the 2010-02-09 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 102 JPG
BASED on the first division league table this cup encounter between first and second was always going to be an entertaining affair. However, the one-sided outcome which saw sec- ond placed Hermitage convincingly beat table toppers Mountshannon Celtic was far more unexpected. From the kick off the Ennis side waltzed along in cruise control as they dominated all over the field. Their east Clare counterparts never got out of the blocks for the whole 90 minutes and were shell-shocked
in the end.
Hermitage attacked from the out- set. Their winning margin could have been far greater if their early shoot- ing had been a bit more accurate.
As the ‘Tage missed chances mounted, the fear of Mountshannon punishing this wastefulness was a constant until the home side finally struck in the 20th minute.
It came via a penalty that was coolly dispatched by Davy Moloney after a handball infringement in the square. The floodgates seemed ready to open but half-time arrived too quickly be- fore Hermitage could double their
lead.
The second-half continued in the exact Same manner.
Hermitage pushed forward and ex- erted huge pressure on the already tiring Mountshannon defence. Five minutes after the restart the elusive second goal was found. Paul Dulla- ghan judged his run perfectly as he found himself on the end of an excel- lent cross to head home a very well worked goal.
The spirit killing third goal came along with a double blow. Hermit- age were awarded their second pen- alty of the afternoon but this time
Mountshannon had to suffer the dreaded fate of going down to ten men as key defender Ray Cahill re- ceived a straight red card for a delib- erate handball. Moloney once again finished it off to effectively kill the game as a contest.
Three rapidly became four — this time Eddie Killeen, a member of the Lifford B side who reached the cup final last year rounded the goalkeep- er before blasting to the net.
As often happens the dominant team then started to relax a bit more and with this Shane O’ Rourke pulled one back for Mountshannon.
Any hope of a miraculous come- back were dashed almost in the next play when Robbie Dunne completed his teams scoring and made it 5-1.
The game had one more goal left in it, however, as more sloppy defend- ing allowed Mounstshannon to grab another late consolation goal. This time Paul Dooley was provider but it was certainly a case of too little too Fre